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TVARS Says NO to Retiree Voting; Instead Extends Allen Stokes' Term

On Monday October 30, with less than 36 hours remaining in Tony Troyani's term, and with retiree member Allen Stokes ignoring my request that he attend, the TVARS Board voted 4-2 against allowing all retirees to vote for the retiree TVARS Board member (aka the 7th member). The meeting was specifically called by Wilson Taylor, Tammy Wilson and Brian Child to occur prior to the expiration of Tony Troyani's term to vote on their proposal to change the rules to keep Allen Stokes on the TVARS Board indefinitely. Jim Hovious and I proposed retiree voting as an amendment by substitution to the original proposal, allowing it to be voted on first.

  • Voting FOR retiree voting:  Leonard Muzyn; Jim Hovious
  • Voting AGAINST retiree voting:  Tony Troyani, Wilson Taylor, Tammy Wilson, Brian Child
  • ABSENT:  Allen Stokes

Sam DeLay, the employee elected member who defeated Tony Toyani, stated in his campaign statement that he supported allowing retirees to vote for the retiree board member. However, his term did not begin until midnight the following day.

Retiree voting for the 7th member would significantly improve TVARS governance by increasing the accountability of the 7th member and also ensuring that the TVARS Board would always have a full complement of seven members, including a TVA retiree. The first election would be held this summer to fill the 7th member term beginning November 1, 2018.

Instead, the TVARS Board voted 4-2 (same vote breakout as above) to extend Allen Stokes term. Fortunately, after arguments presented by Jim and myself, they modified their amendment to extend Allen Stokes term for up to only one year. They also modified their amendment to place some limits on Allen Stokes' voting power during his extended term.

Sam, Jim and I plan to call for another vote to approve retiree voting for the 7th member in the near future. We believe it is very important that all retirees currently receiving benefits be permitted to vote for the 7th member. We believe it is important that a retiree need not belong to any particular retiree organization in order to do so. 

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